


Dawnlight Book One: Inferno

by LyranaFranklin



Series: Dawnlight [1]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: Acceptance, Adventure, Angst, Duty, F/M, Family, Humour, Lies, Love, Music, Struggle, fight, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 03:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5611705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyranaFranklin/pseuds/LyranaFranklin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things don't just happen in this world. Someone has to pull the strings, twist fates, set in motion what was always destined to be. There is something out there, something that is threatening to envelop the world in darkness, and for some reason, it's up to me to stop it. The Senshi are just foot soldiers, I call the shots. I may be the puppet master, but don't think for a second that I want to do this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dawnlight Book One: Inferno

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the realm of Dawnlight my lovelies, this is the first book of Dawnlight, which is what I intend to be a rather lengthy, four book series. This is the story of Lyrana Franklin, the Guardian of the Sailor Senshi. Now I know I haven't revealed too much of where I intend to take this story, but that shall come to, this is just a set up chapter, but I promise there will be more to come very soon. So comment and kudos dear readers, I'd love to hear what you think.  
> Kisses, Lyra.

**Chapter One: Guardian of Senshi**

There was an unusual intensity about her, an aura radiating from her that refused to be ignored. It was just a certain  _ something _ that seemed to draw attention in spite of the obvious effort being made to shun her. A decision obviously crafted to the smallest of details. The desks surrounding her were empty. No conversation was directed her way. No one even glanced at her. But ironically, perhaps what made her so noticeable was her dismissal of being treated in such a way. For if she had noticed their attempts to freeze her out; she clearly didn’t care.

She seemed almost too comfortable in the frosty environment; legs curled underneath her in a childlike manner. Her attention was instead focused upon her notebook, not even glancing up at those around her. The chewed pencil in her hand danced across its pages, as she nodded along to some invisible tune. Occasionally she would tap her foot against the desk or twist the bangle clamped around her wrist as her thoughts flowed and developed. She seemed completely immersed in the composition forming at her fingertips, as if nothing else mattered to her in that moment.

She paused for a few seconds, contemplating the next section of her piece as she corrected a crooked treble clef. Swivelling her head to examine the symbol and instantaneously, a stringy piece of her dirty blonde hair fell into her eyes. Glaring at the curl, she twisted it back into the tangled bun at the base of her neck, popping her lips in irritation. Resuming her focus on her notebook, she glanced over it before realising the brief distraction had caused her to lose the melody. Groaning slightly, she slammed her head against the desk, drawing the attention of the teacher that until this point had not noticed her lack of focus.

‘Miss Franklin.’

Her head jerked up and her face quickly rearranged itself into an unassuming smile, ‘Yes Mrs Arista?’ 

The head of mathematics glared at her intently despite the innocent expression her student directed at her. The old woman was short, stout and crotchety with frown lines deep enough to slot playing cards into. Her stern expression truly made her intimidating, but the girl didn’t even flinch, maintaining her guiltless smile. However all the evidence available was against her being on task, given her textbook and workbook remained unopened on the corner of her desk. 

‘Have you been paying attention to the equation I’ve been explaining Miss Franklin?’ she asked walking towards her distracted student.

The girl nodded pleasantly, but Mrs Arista wasn’t buying her facade and snatched the composition book off the table, ‘Hey!’ she protested.

She stood abruptly, an impressive feat given her exceptional height, towering half a foot over her teacher at least. However Mrs Arista remained undeterred by this, examining the book critically while her student twitched in aggravation. The other students looked around at this, their efforts to ignore her instantly put aside for their own entertainment.

‘This is a mathematics lesson Miss Franklin, not music,’ she said brandishing the book in her face.

‘Fine, I was composing, I admit it. Now can I have my book back?’ her tone suddenly becoming forceful and slightly neurotic. 

‘Miss Franklin, these are the sorts of questions you’ll be tested on in your half yearly exams. If you don’t understand the formula you’ll never-‘

‘Can I skip the pick a vowel business and point out the answer to the equation you haven’t finished?’ she interrupted, ready to get this over and done with, ‘Because you seem to be taking your bloody time getting around to explaining that it’s… three point zero six five.’

Mrs Arista frowned at her, having not even started solving the equation yet, and ever the skeptic she moved to the board with the intention of proving the girl wrong. It was hardly the first time a clash like this had occurred with this particular student. Perhaps it was wishful thinking on her part, deciding that if she took the girl’s ego down a step the conflict would be resolved. Though as she solved the equation she found that the student, annoyingly so, was completely right. Mrs Arista turned back to face the smug expression on the student’s face, holding her hand out for the notebook which she begrudgingly returned.

‘I won’t confiscate it. But I expect you to put it away and pay attention for the rest of the lesson.’

At this the girl let out a highly exaggerated groan collapsing into her seat. At her reaction there was a small smattering of suppressed laughter from the classroom, but the teacher steeled herself, no longer willing to put up with the unruly behaviour.

‘Miss Franklin, Shiba Kōen is a school for the elite. I understand you are here on scholarship but I won’t have your abominable manners tarnishing the good name of this school,’ at this criticism the girl opened her mouth to retort, but Mrs Arista was not going to let her interrupt, ‘I don’t have to call your brother to discuss your attitude again, do I?’

With a dramatic sigh that sent her dodger blue eyes rolling back into her head, the girl simply said, ‘No Mrs Arista, I’ll pay attention,’ the teacher nodded, and began moving away but determined to get the last word in, the girl muttered in a carrying voice, ‘Subject him to the torture of having to listen to you? I don’t think so.’

Somewhat defeated, the teacher moved away and resumed explaining the equation to the remainder of the class. With little shame the girl just smirked, returning to her book trying to recreate the harmonies floating through her head on paper. Though she never said a another word, the remaining twenty minutes of the lesson was continually disrupted. A Friday this close to the end of term was never quiet, and the restlessness of the class was constant enough that Mrs Arista had to whip around to hush them every two minutes. The moment the clock ticked over to three thirty, there was nothing to contain the sighs of relief and joy as the school day finally ended. Within a split second, half the class was out the door, the girl was last to leave the room spending a full minute jotting down a series of musical notes before she forgot the tune. She then proceeded to waltz out the room sending a patronising smile towards her teacher, mockingly bowing as she reached the door.

By the time she had navigated her way through the corridors and out the back gate, the car park was filled with students getting into expensive cars. About half the student body was out here, greeting their parents or in some cases drivers. If anyone paid attention to the girl who wove her way down the block looking for someone, it was only to glare at her. There was no positive acknowledgement of her at all until a rather carrying voice came from directly behind her.

‘Lyra.’

The girl jumped and whipped around, instantly crashing into the tall man who had been waiting for her. He laughed as she glared up at him, but his amusement was cut short as she jabbed him in the stomach hard enough to make him grunt. Their interaction caught the attention of a few students nearby, who looked over at them judgmentally. There was no shortage of girls who had tried to catch the attention of the dark haired stranger who showed up to collect their classmate most days. All of which had pointedly been ignored.

‘Enough fun, let’s get going,’ he said authoritatively but not unkindly, either way the girl just rolled her eyes at him.

The man seemed perpetually grim, yet noticing the face she was making at him, he still smiled at her easily. His tall frame wove easily through the crowd, most people moving out of their way, several girls stopping in their tracks just to watch him. On appearance alone he was quite striking, ruffled black hair and eyes as blue and as bottomless as the ocean. He was slim with strong shoulders and sharp facial features, and as he approached the motorbike waiting on the curb nobody could have been blamed for swooning. But just like the girl there was something captivating about him that wasn’t limited to his appearance. An aura of intensity, something pointedly usual. Whatever drew people to him was something he didn’t seem entirely aware of, and without noticing the stares he tossed a helmet to Lyra and swung his leg over the bike that had been maintained with a near obsessive level of care.

‘I’ve got twenty minutes to get you home before I’ve got to be at work and the traffic’s a bitch right now,’ he told her.

‘Then I’ll just come with you, the Crown’s within walking distance, I’ll just hang around with Andrew for a bit,’ she replied, slinging the helmet on, glad to finally have something that could keep her hair firmly out of the way.

He smirked easily as she clambered up behind her, slamming the vizier of his helmet shut, ‘Meaning you’ll bug the hell out him for an hour or two and steal food.’

‘My dear brother you’re finally catching on,’ she teased lightly.

‘Well after a while it occurred to me he wasn’t joking about you paying rent,’ he retorted, but his amusement was all too obvious.

‘I have best friend’s little sister privileges. And little sister’s friend privileges. He’s just going to have to adjust to the fact that occasionally I’m going to take something off a tray as he walks past,’ Lyra said innocently, ‘Now Darien, didn’t you say something about being in a rush?’

He laughed at her and shook his head, revving the engine and waiting for a gap to move out. Just before they left, Lyra felt a rather pointed glare on the back of her neck. For the first time all day, she responded, whipping around to glare at the pack of people leaning against the school gate who all leered at her. Beneath her helmet, her lips pressed together in a thin line, trying to contain her response before she disregarded it and flipped them off. She could feel their eyes on her and flinched slightly as she heard their laughter from finally getting a reaction. 

‘Lyra they’re not bothering you again are they?’ Darien growled, a protective undertone gathering in his deep voice.

She just shook her head sharply, ‘They’re no problem. Just drive.’

‘Lyra.’

‘Darien.’

She matched his tone evenly, and for a moment they just remained in silence, neither breaching the topic, waiting for the other to say something. But after a moment Darien grew impatient and with a rev of the engine he pulled out of the lot and onto the road, cutting someone off as he did. Leaving the glaring students in the dust. 

…

The Crown Arcade, as usual, was filled with people. A majority of the customers filling up the establishment were in school uniforms. Students from the local primary schools and  junior and senior high schools tended to swarm in on the establishment with alarming frequency. There were kids slapping the machines, screaming about the game being rigged. Other older kids were sitting around the counter, or trying to fit their large groups into the booths and around the tables. A single group from Shiba Kōen had entered, a group of a dozen or so students all trying to squeeze into one booth, which they were managing with great difficulty. 

Across the aisle was the only other student from the elite private school, and unlike everyone else she had an entire booth to herself. Lyra had spread her stuff out all over the table, homework, workbooks, textbooks. Her long legs were spread out on one side of the seats and her bag and helmet occupied the rest of the room on the other side. If there was ever an indication that no one should attempt to join her table this was it. She had been here for a little over an hour now, and after begrudgingly doing her homework she was back to her composition. With no need to be quiet, she hummed along gently, having entirely blocked out the ruckus of the crowded arcade.

After some time she opened a clunky laptop, accessing the wi-fi with Andrew’s admin password and was going to open a program when she noticed something on her homepage. Rolling her eyes she grinned and sent a quick message:

**L: Are you still at home?**

The message whizzed off and she returned her attention to the editing software, beginning to input her composition. She put her headphones in and began adjusting accordingly, sure she could write most of her music by hand but she preferred to make computerised versions. All her music came from stray tunes that echoed through her head and wouldn’t go away until she had translated them, this just quickened the process so she could go back to thinking. She was trying to figure out what instrument had been playing in her head when her computer pinged:

**M: Teacher’s strike, I don’t have to be in there till eleven. Best excuse I’ve ever heard for a sleep in.**

Lyra grinned, knowing it was the only way her friend would end up on time to school, though there was always time for her to distract herself and forget to leave:

**L: I’m still at the Crown catching up on some homework but I’m going to head home soon, Skype you then?**

**M: For sure, I need some Lyra time, everyone in this country is getting predictable.**

Lyra smiled softly, holding back a laugh. It was amazing how much someone could miss a person who they talked too on a daily basis. It wasn’t easy to stay in contact, both of them had lost a lot of sleep just to talk to each other. With an eight hour time difference and both of their school schedules; keeping up with someone who lived on a different continent was never easy. But she knew it was worth it. Though halfway through typing her response, she felt a shadow close over her.

She had very little doubt who it would be and as a result didn’t bother to look up before drawling irritably, ‘What do you want Nudnik?’

With this out in the open she directed a long, suffering stare upwards at the boy whose lip curled slightly at her usual greeting, ‘What makes you think I want anything?’ he asked, his voice a strange mix of accents.

She could already guess what he was after, it was obvious from the overcrowded booth across the aisle from her, but he just kept an innocent look plastered across his smug face, ‘Well you always have been rather needy, so let me just cut the crap and get straight to it. No, I’m not moving. You can find some other establishment to irk people in.’

With this she turned back to her laptop, and began typing again at a mile a millisecond:

**L: Speaking of people who are just too damn predictable.**

He gritted his teeth at her refusal while she just smirked to herself, if he had just waited ten minutes he could have just taken the damn booth. She hadn’t been planning on staying around much longer, but stopping him from getting his way seemed like a perfectly good reason to stay. Her refusal meant nothing to him, and he continued to stand there, his natural height causing him to loom over her as his facial features set with irritation.

‘Stop being so bloody selfish and get out of the booth. You can sit at the bar like the rest of the loners,’ he stated forcefully, ‘Or perhaps you could do the world a favour and take yourself somewhere that no one has to put up with a-‘

‘What’s the word of the day Toby? Are you going to call me a bitch as usual or are you feeling creative?’ 

His mouth curled in contempt at her response, and seemingly out of habit he ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of a suitable response. She seemed to be waiting patiently, a very sarcastic look of contemplation etched upon her features as his dark eyes met with hers. The looks of hatred they were exchanging could have started a third world war, his knuckles tightening as he tried to gage what response would actually make a dent in her confidence.

‘Is there even a point in saying anything? You have always seemed perfectly aware of exactly how much of a nightmare you are to put up with.’

Lyra took a moment to select her response, noticing how his followers were all watching her with sick amusement. She couldn’t help but find it amusing how many of the boys were trying and failing to mimic Toby’s manicured mop, wondering to herself how long it took them to look like they just rolled out of bed.. Her distraction however seemed to indicate to him that he’d won, and his dark eyes glinted in satisfaction, but her computer pinged slightly bring Lyra back from her musings.

**M: What are you and Toby arguing about now?**

**L: Not much, just wrapping things up now.**

He saw her laugh slightly and go back to her typing, and it finally dawned on Toby that he hadn’t stumped her in the slightest, she was just ignoring him, ‘Well?!’ he growled.

‘Oh honey bear, that was so pathetic it’s not even worth my time,’ Lyra told him quite flatly, ‘Go ahead, take a minute, think of something slightly less predictable and I just might give you the honour of hearing one of my responses.’

He twitched slightly before without any hesitation, swung around on his heel and went back to his booth as half of his friends got out to give him his spot back. He whispered something teasingly to his flustered girlfriend, who began giggling away in her whiney voice. Lyra looked away in disgust as the two were quickly joined at the lips, way too much PDA.  _ Way _ too much. If they were worried about their booth getting too crowded maybe those two should go find a motel and stop contaminating her favourite place.

She didn’t even know why they insisted on coming here, pretty much everyone at Shiba Kōen came from a family with at least a seven figure salary. They probably had enough pocket change to buy out a place like this, sure the Crown was well run and all, but it was an arcade. Surely they had some sort of country club to go to. This was yet another thing that was Toby’s fault, he’d only found out about this place after he had followed her the entire way from school trying to continue an argument he’d already lost.

**M: Please don’t tell me you’ve hit him again, one of these days he’s going to have to sue.**

**L: Relax, I haven’t hit him this time but if I did, would it really be such a big issue? He’s not going to press charges, he’s had way too many opportunities in the past and has never done anything about it.**

She pursed her lips slightly at the reminder, she wasn’t necessarily proud. But usually Toby had crossed line after line and she couldn’t take it. She usually tried to restrain herself, but he just knew all the right buttons to press. She didn’t understand it, but he was so determined to win an argument against her he was willing to put his health on the line to achieve it. It was hard to put briefly what she had done to him. She had broken his nose more than once, to the point it was now permanent crooked. After losing a debating competition to him she concussed him so dramatically that she was declared the winner by default as he was unable to accept the trophy. She’d flipped him over the railing on a stairway, dented a metal lunch tray over his head, cracked his jaw and slapped him so many times that he might as well just get a red handprint tattooed across his face. And that was only scraping the barrel. 

**M: I can’t believe how much he’ll go through to not admit he keeps beaten up by a girl.**

**L: I’m sorry, I know you used to be his best friend and all but how could you have missed his ego?**

**M: …Okay, point taken.**

‘Shift up.’

Lyra didn’t need to look up to know who it was, she just moved her legs and closed her laptop as Andrew put a can of soda in front of her and slid into the booth. She grinned easily at the fellow blonde, who had pulled off his apron temporarily and twisted the ring pull and took a long draught. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see half the girls in the arcade glare at her. Earning Andrew’s attention was the most competitive war game the arcade had on offer.

‘So you actually get a break for once?’ Lyra asked teasingly, ‘I thought this place didn’t run without you?’

‘It doesn’t,’ Andrew sighed melodramatically, ‘But there’s always hope, I’ve been sitting down for a whole ten seconds- Lizzie can you get that kid away from the machine? He’s a climber.’

A few meters away a waitress looked around before winking, waggling her fingers at Lyra and gliding off to handle it while Andrew watched the little boy like a hawk. It was understandable why though, it was the family business, if this kid got back into the claw machine like he had last month… it’d be an embarrassing call to his father. To put it lightly the kid had a nervous bladder and all of the toys in the machine had to be gifted to him as a result. 

When Andrew had graduated high school, he had started working full time at the arcade. He hadn’t entirely figured out what he wanted to do, he’d been um-ing and ah-ing about becoming a doctor since Lyra met him. In the meantime he essentially ran the Crown, having practically revolutionised the business, kicking it from the seventies back to the modern era. His little sister Lizzie had only been working here for a few months, but at least he trusted her enough to look after the place while he sat down for a few minutes.

Andrew turned his attention from the child to her composition book, trying to read the notes sideways, ‘How nosey can you get?’ Lyra commented, snatching the book from his sight.

‘A lot worse and you know it,’ Andrew reminded, ‘Come on, I thought our deal was if it doesn’t have lyrics yet, I can see it.’

Lyra rolled her eyes dramatically before handing him the book, and he began examining the piece, humming under his breath as he went. Andrew was the only exception to her “go near my book and you die,” policy. Mostly because he was too much of a flibbertigibbet to be kept away from anything for too long. 

‘Lyra what instrument am I supposed to be picturing?’ he questioned after a long moment.

She simply shrugged at him, quite frankly having no clue, ‘It sounded like it had strings in my head but god knows what the thing is called.’

‘Helpful,’ he commented.

‘Is my brain every anything but?’ she offered sarcastically.

‘Of course, how could I forget?’

She swatted him lightly for the comment, ‘It’s my brain I’m allowed to say it, you on the other hand-‘

She cut off sharply as a sick feeling gathered in her chest and a searing pain ran down her spine. Her vision began to blur, a warning sign that she’d learnt all too well by now. Not attempting to say anything to Andrew to explain her sudden change, she clambered unsteadily to her feet.Gripping the back of the booths as she went, she tried to migrate herself to the bathrooms as quickly and as seamlessly as she could. However her hand knocked against someone else’s milkshake, sending it toppling to the floor where it shattered loudly. The boy began to yell at her but he shut off abruptly as he saw her face, and then all at once she just dropped.

_ The warrior of the moon approaches, her awakening is imminent. _

She recognised the voice from its prior intrusions into her mind, female from what she could tell but she couldn’t identify the age or accent. The voice fluctuated through her head, vibrating in her ears, rumbling like an incoming storm. It was loud enough to drown out everything else as different coloured pulses and distorted shapes swept through her vision. She wouldn’t have been surprised if she was screaming, she had a vague sense of her clutching at her head but it wouldn’t make a difference if she did make a sound. She was incapable of hearing anything else but the voice in her head.

_ The enemies of the past shall strike one more, she must be awoken to vanquish them before all turns to darkness. _

In a minimal sense she was could feel her limbs colliding with something, she didn’t know what it was and for a minute she could barely remember where she was. All she knew was that she couldn’t see, and all she could hear was that voice. The voice that haunted her, reminding her that it owned her and gave her little to no option to refuse it. 

_ Tonight. It all begins tonight. _

She sat up so suddenly that it sent a paralysing jolt through her body forcefully enough that she almost collapsed again. Her vision gradually began to come back to her, even as the voice still lingered in her ears and hazily, she began to process where she was. Everyone was staring at her from where she was sprawled on the floor of the arcade, Andrew was crouched nearby, his face pale with worry. He was gripping her hand even as she sucked in air and tried to process what was going on. She must have looked like she’d had a fit or some kind of psychotic break. 

The terror of it all starting again shocked through her body and not knowing what else to do she clung to Andrew, burying her head in his chest. The motion of sitting up even so slightly made her head spin and she felt like she could be sick any minute. She knew what this all meant and it clawed at her stomach sending her heart into overdrive. Her hysterical breaths must have unnerved Andrew, who looped his arms around her protectively and called out to those around her.

‘Someone go to the restaurant round the corner, ask for Darien, she needs him,’ he instructed as he felt her quiver.

She processed the sound of a few people running off, but she mostly registered it as a few less people who were staring at her. Her entire body was shaking, her breath catching in her throat as she tried and failed to come to terms with this whole thing starting yet again. And to someone she’d yet to identify, someone she didn’t even know. Another life she had to ruin, another city that was in danger of being overwhelmed by the forces of chaos

She didn’t let go of Andrew, acknowledging internally that her grip must be painful but he didn’t say a word in complaint. She was still lying in the centre of the aisle, so many people were staring at her and she just wanted them to all go away. Trying to block them out she continued to hide in Andrew’s arms, hoping that they’d all leave her alone before she began to self-destruct.

‘What happened?’

She recognised Darien’s voice, and very carefully she curled her head up, lip quivering slightly, ‘Hi,’ she managed to get out before noticing everyone was still staring at her and she hid her head in Andrew’s stomach once more.

‘Oi, back to your own business,’ Darien snapped aggressively enough that most people looked away, before he gently took Lyra’s hand and said, ‘Okay Lyra, let’s have a look at you.

Darien’s look of concern was borderline heartbreaking as she examined him as if she was making sure he was still real. He was wearing the suit he usually had to for work, he was a waiter for a fancy restaurant in the area. It looked a little ridiculous in such a plain setting, crouched on the floor of an arcade, clearly having skidded straight over the milkshake remnants trying to get to her as soon as possible. He and Andrew gently pulled her to her feet, placing her on the edge of her booth, observing her as she still quivered uncontrollably.

‘I think she had a seizure,’ Andrew said to Darien quietly, ‘We were talking and all of a sudden she just tried to leave and then she dropped.’

‘Are you sure she didn’t faint?’

‘Not with the way she was…’

‘Spasming, the word is spasming Andrew, you’re allowed to say it,’ Lyra put very flatly, her fists tightening around the flaps of her skirt.

‘We need to get you to a doctor, now,’ Darien said, checking her erratic pulse.

‘I’m fine,’ she insisted pulling her arm out of his grip.

‘No your not Lyra,’ Darien countered, ‘Having a seizure isn’t something you can just brush off, we need to make sure that you’re okay. We’ve got to figure out what happened.’

Lyra glared at him, she hated doctors on principle and Darien knew it, ‘I’m not going to see a doctor, I’m fine Darien.’

‘Lyra, if you don’t stop complaining I’m going to call an ambulance and they’ll take you to a hospital. Something we both know you hate even more,’ he insisted as gently but affirmatively as he could manage, ‘Now come on lil sis, let’s get you out of here.’

Gathering up her stuff he slowly began guiding her out of the arcade, drawing more and more stares as they went. He nodded simply to Andrew’s request that he to be given an update when they knew what was going on. Darien hadn’t the slightest clue of the war now raging in Lyra’s head as she finally began to process the voice’s words. It was all starting again. There was something dark approaching Tokyo. And she had to find the poor soul destined to confront them.

…

**A: How is she?**

Darien frowned out the text from where he waited out on the sidewalk. It annoyed him to no end that as of yet, he didn’t know. Lyra had refused to let him come in with her, given how much she hated doctors he was surprised she went in alone. He knew she was old enough to go in without him, she was nearly sixteen for god’s sake and he’d done things alone from a much younger age. But he was her brother, he was her god damn legal guardian. Wasn’t it up to him to do these things with her?

**D: Don’t know, she still hasn’t come out yet.**

He began to pace back on forth on the sidewalk, checking his watch restlessly. He could still see the panic on the faces of the kids who’d come to get him. None of them had actually known who Lyra was, they all just banged on the door until one of the other waiters opened it. He nearly clobbered the kid who had said “some blonde chick collapsed in the Crown and that dude that works here told us to come get some guy named Da… Darien I think?” However he’d restrained himself simply because of how freaked out the other kids looked, it had meant Lyra needed him.

**A: That must be driving you mad.**

**D: Shut up.**

**A: Is that the thanks I get for confiscating the phones off all the kids who filmed the thing? Half that Shiba Kōen table did.**

His stomach turned and for a brief moment he felt rather sick. Lyra was on the floor having a seizure, and someone filmed it? One person he could have handled, he would have expected it, but a whole group of people? It wasn’t the first time Darien felt the chill of general loathing for the human race. But the rate at which it was becoming a familiar feeling was truly unnerving.

**D: Thanks Andrew. If that sort of thing ended up online…**

**A: Don’t worry, I’m near positive I got all of them, you should have seen the looks on those rich brats’ faces when I came up to them. Although I think they were more freaked by the look Lizzie was giving them rather than me.**

Darien sighed, shaking his head to himself, as he tried to convince himself the footage wouldn’t be posted. Lyra had enough crap on her plate without it, and somehow those half-wits at her school would use it as an additional tool to pick at her. He really had no doubt that the only reason they would have gotten anywhere would have been Lizzie, Andrew was about as intimidating as a guppy. Though halfway through his reply he felt something hit him in the face. He was already aggravated enough without this, so as he caught the wad of paper he turned on the person who’d thrown it.

‘Excuse me.’

Hearing his growl the girl turned around abruptly, her eyes lighting up apologetically as she moved towards him, spluttering out, ‘I am so sorry I-

‘Planning on making bumps on my head too?’ 

The girls stopped in her tracks, blinking rapidly, hands unconsciously moving towards the buns of champagne blonde hair, ‘I… What did you just say to me?’

She seemed genuinely confused and a touch offended but he simply bit back, ‘Be a little more careful next time Meatball head,’ before beginning to uncrumpled the paper.

‘Hey, give that back, I know I hit you but still-‘

‘Thirty percent? Admirable,’ he bit out scathingly. 

‘Give that to me!’ she exclaimed shrilly, her distress rising, ‘It’s none of your business!’

Her reaction only caused him to smirk as he continued to scan the paper, ‘If that’s true then maybe you should watch where you throw these sorts of things.’

‘It was an accident!’ she insisted, tiny fists clenching, but her impossibly tiny size ensured that her paper was held well above her head.

He couldn’t help but be amused by her anger no matter how against his better nature it was. But it mostly stemmed that her loud voice seemed impossible from someone so petite. He furthermore couldn’t help but note how out of place she looked. Sure, Azabu was more multicultural than a lot of areas of Japan given the dozen or so embassies based here, but regardless there weren’t a lot of blondes in Tokyo. And when matched with her pale skin and celeste eyes she was essentially exotic. He noted internally that she was fairly pretty and when matched with her grade he couldn’t help but assume she’d have some sort of Barbie-fairy-princess complex. Though her sudden and sharp glare made him wonder if his judgement was entirely correct.

‘Calm down,’ he sighed impatiently, waving it in her face, ‘No need to go to war over one comment. I’m sure your teacher says similar things all the time. Who wouldn’t with such a slug brained student?’

‘You… You…’

He shook his head chuckling as she angrily snatched the paper from his hands, but clamped his mouth shut as he saw the tears in her eyes. For some reason, he hadn’t expected this, and was at a loss for what to do about the impending waterworks. However he was quickly saved, and simultaneously put into a new danger zone as he heard a very, loud voice ring out.

‘Darien, what do you  _ think _ you’re doing?’

‘Lyra,’ he remarked, ‘What did the doc-‘

But his fuming sister cut him off as she descended the steps and began angrily jabbing him in the chest, ‘Being worried about me does  _ no _ t give you permission to take out a stranger.’

He just wanted to know if she was okay, but the way she looked at him made it clear she was far from wanting to alleviate or confirm his fears. The other girl was still watching them with a mix of confusion and wariness, still seeming somewhat upset. Lyra moved away from him, turning rather dutifully to the upset girl and began addressing her with a touch of formality.

‘I apologise for my brother’s behaviour. It was simply rude.’

‘Lyra-’ he tried to interrupt, still wanting to know if she’d found out the cause of her seizure, but she just glared at him until he shut his mouth.

‘It’s okay,’ the girl spoke up softly, ‘It doesn’t matter all that much. He was probably right about most of it, I just- I’m going to go. I… need to head home.’

She bowed her head slightly before walking away, the crumpled test still clutched in her hand. Her long hair seemed to droop and she just paced along with not so much as a spring in her step. Darien felt a slight twinge of guilt, but he chose to ignore it, he had higher priorities right now than some stranger. 

‘I know I shouldn’t have done that Lyra, but I’m still worried about you. Does the doctor know what caused your seizure or do we have to get some tests done?’

She opened her mouth to reply before closing it again, looking at the receding from of that other girl, ‘She’s still crying… I’m going to go talk to her.’

Before he could stop her, she ran down the street, stopping the girl in her tracks and beginning to talk to her. From a distance Darien saw her put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and began talking to her. He moved closer warily, but still stayed several meters away, he didn’t know exactly what they were talking about but Lyra seemed worried. There was just something about the way she was standing, there was this look on her face. He didn’t know exactly what it was, but it already felt like something had changed.

…

It was all still a blur, yet she knew what had been done. The moment she’d touched her everything was separated into a whirlwind of saturated colours. For a few seconds she saw the world like an abstract artwork from a gallery wall. Everything seemed bright and surreal, everything seemed separate, yet it blurred together like running watercolours. She’d heard one word from the voice in that instant.  _ Cancer. _ But she knew it was not the disease, it was the constellation. She also knew it was an order not a request. For as the distortion faded she could see the swirling silver and gold lights still trailing from where her hand had touched her shoulder. This had only happened once before and the consequences for disobeying were immeasurable. This girl was the “Warrior of the Moon,” that the voice was searching for. This girl was the one who’s life was about to fall apart.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to bring your brother inside? He’s staring at us through the window…’ 

‘I told him to go home, if he didn’t do it than it’s his own damn fault,’ Lyra replied shortly, redirecting her attention from the ceiling beam that had held her attention previously. 

‘…Okay… you didn’t have to do this for me. I was fine, really-‘

‘You were bawling your eyes out and Darien no doubt caused it. It’s only right for me to help you out,’ she assured.

After the world returned to normal, Lyra hadn’t been entirely sure what to do, but she knew she couldn’t lose sight of this girl. Besides, Darien had been rude enough to her, the least she could do was buy her a sugar hit and hope she’d stop crying. Part of her wondered if she should have known something was wrong the moment she felt compelled to chase her down the street and ask her if she was okay. Though all the same, how was she supposed to know that was the voice messing with her and not her own basic humanity? She’d taken her to a café she’d spotted across the road and bought her a milkshake while Darien sulked outside. But suddenly the girl said something and Lyra completely missed it, jolting her out of her thoughts.

‘Sorry what?’

‘I asked what your name was,’ she prompted gently, offering her a soft smile.

‘Right, Lyrana Franklin, Lyra,’ she said hastily, 

‘I’m Serena Tsukino,’ she said warmly.

Lyra raised an eyebrow internally, not sure whether or not to laugh. She wasn’t sure how anyone who was supposed to be the “warrior of the moon” would be able to keep their identity secret with such a point blank obvious name. Serena meant moon, and so did the Tsuki part of her last name. Someone may as well just slap a banner on her and announce her everywhere as Moon Moon. But Serena seemed to notice her reaction and looked a little confused so she abruptly, and somewhat tactlessly asked:

‘So what upset you? I didn’t really see any of the argument.’

Serena hesitated for a moment but with a sigh she began to explain, ‘I was trying to dispose of a bad grade before my mother saw it and… well… your brother happened to be in the way of my toss.’

‘Right.’

‘It’s no big deal really,’ Serena assured her but bit by bit her speech became increasingly rapid, ‘I was just starting to wonder what my mum is going to do when she sees the grade and-‘

She cut off suddenly, tears welling in her eyes which she bit back and took a long draught of her shake while Lyra blinked rapidly and tried to work out what to say, ‘Serena it’s just one test, you can just do better next time.’

She half smiled and shook her head gently, ‘No, it’s not just one test, it’s all of them quite frankly. I couldn’t be flunking any harder if I tried. I guess your brother was right, I am getting used to people saying things like that and calling me stupid.’

Lyra bit her lip, trying to think of some way to slap the solemn look off this girl’s face, so she leaned forward and put her arm a little closer to Serena, ‘Do you see this bracelet?’

This clearly caught her off guard and she looked up to examine it, her eyes widening and her mouth opening in a comical “o” as she stared. Clamped around Lyra’s wrist was a thick bangle, two or three inches long, made of a twisted gold that shone dully. It clearly depicted the solar system in some way, made clear by the sun symbol and the ten circles fixed to the gold mesh. Representing the nine planets with a small circle to depict Earth’s moon. A polished orange stone, amber of some sort replaced the second circle along, looking out of place but none the less, beautiful.

‘Wow… it’s incredible… Is it a family heirloom or something? It must be so valuable. My friend Molly’s mum owns a jewellery store, I was there this afternoon but none of the things I saw were as cool as-‘

‘I don’t think you realise why I’m pointing this out Serena,’ Lyra coaxed carefully, ‘Do you know why it’s valuable?’

Serena seemed confused by this, her eyebrows drawing together, ‘Well it’s gold… of course it’s valuable.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yeah, gold is rare and-‘

‘It actually isn’t,’ Lyra shrugged, ‘It’s value is something society has decided upon as a group. But it wasn’t always that way by any means, in Ancient China jade was far more coveted than gold. What do you think people thought was valuable in countries without any gold or who never mined for it?’

‘…I’m sorry, if there is some sort of metaphor behind this conversation? Because I might have missed it.’

‘Serena, society places value on gold, just like they place value on certain kinds of intelligence. You may be having trouble in an institute that only tests one kind of intelligence, but that doesn’t make you by any means stupid, and you can’t allow yourself to think like that.’

Serena had turned slightly pink at her words before saying, ‘I… ah…’

She stuttered for a few moments so Lyra continued, ‘The things they test in school are mostly a matter of memorising a list of prioritised endeavours. They value straightforward logic and monotonous crap over everything else. Anyone can do it if they push themselves hard enough. But doing something like that forces people out of thinking patterns they could easily develop on their own because it’s what they’re hardwired to do. Creativity, strategizing, street smarts, ingenuity, people smarts. All of them are equally valuable skills. You need to recognise what you’re good at because even if it won’t show on a standardised test that crams everyone into a box, you should never, ever think that you’re stupid.’ 

Lyra had surprised herself quite frankly, something this encouraging was far from what she was usually capable of. She wasn’t entirely certain if it had been her that said it, and couldn’t help but look around, sure it had been someone else. Even when she turned back to look at Serena she was stunned to see that there were tears in her eyes once more, though this time she was positively beaming.

‘That is probably the nicest thing someone’s ever-’ but Serena quickly cut off, looking at the gaze of blank awkwardness on Lyra’s face she instead said, ‘I think I get what you mean, thankyou for saying it.’

‘No problem,’ Lyra replied quickly, ‘…Are you okay now?’

‘For now, probably,’ she said with a wink, ‘But when mum gets a hold of this grade… maybe not so much.’

‘Burn it,’ Lyra suggested casually.

Serena began to laugh before pulling out the crumpled remains of her exam and muttering, ‘Yeah, because I haven’t tried that one before.’

Lyra bit her lip hard, even her best efforts at comforting her had only lead to a temporary solution, so she said the only thing she could think of, ‘Well… what if I helped you?’

‘Not that I’m not grateful for the offer Lyra, but I’ve thought of every excuse in the book, my mum won’t take anything as-’

‘I don’t mean help you come up with a lie, I mean, what if I helped you study? I could tutor you,’ Lyra explained hastily. 

Serena looked confused for a long moment, ‘Pardon?’

‘Well, if your mother thinks you’ve been proactive enough to take steps to fix your problem, how mad can she be? I can help you go over material and find different learning strategies that will work better for you.’

Serena stared at Lyra, mouth slightly open before she blurted out, ‘Are you serious?’ and at Lyra’s nod she added, ‘Really?’

‘Of course,’ Lyra shrugged, ‘I mean, just pay me in food, I think it’d be fun… What do you say?’

At this point Serena’s entire body came across the table as she seized Lyra in a hug so filled with desperation that it left her quite unsure what she was supposed to do. Patting her awkwardly on the arm, Lyra breathed a slight sigh of relief. At least she could do something to pay this girl back for what she was about to do to her. 


End file.
